Heavy metal status in muscles of dry Trachinocphalus myops fish from Orita-merin market in Ibadan metropolis South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper determined the levels of chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in muscles of dry Trachinocephalus myops from Orita-merin market in Ibadan metropolis south-west of Nigeria. Samples were randomly purchased and were digested in concentrated nitric acid and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Zinc had the highest concentration of 124.9±86.7 mg/kg dry weight of the samples, while cadmium had the lowest concentration of 2.5±1.6 mg/kg dry weight of the samples. The concentration of chromium and copper were 5.6±3.5 mg/kg and 5.2±3.1 mg/kg respectively while lead was observed in only one of the samples with a concentration of 3.7 mg/kg. The obtained result revealed that Cr, Cd, Zn and Pb were above the permissible level set by  the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) maximum limit in food which is Pb (2 ppm), Cd (0.5 ppm), Zn(1 ppm), and Cr (0.05 ppm which may be an indication of possible health risk when exposed consistently over a long time to this type of fish.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Bioaccumulation, Ecosystem, Pollutant, Exposure